Aside from being "the world’s leading counter-jihad protest movement," the EDL are also apparently "remaining vigilant for all other forms of extremism." Alongside the Islamists, "there are three main forms of extremism that we are helping to defeat," and this includes being "one of the best forms of protection that this country has against far right extremism." Yes, really.

The brave troops of the EDL also apparently challenge "the view that in order to defeat fascist ideologies (Nazism,
Islamo-fascism, Stalinism, etc), it is necessary to resort to violence
or other extreme action" and of course the old chestnut of "violent anarchism." Because these self-styled heroes of the working class deride the idea "that the existing establishment (the banks, the government, the media,
leading industries, etc) are responsible for the world’s problems and
deserve to be attacked in some way."

We educate our supporters about the threat posed by Islamic
extremism; analysing its cause and encouraging a public debate, rather
than making unfair generalisations.

If this is true, you have to wonder the value of their education. Taking Liverpool as an example, of late the EDL have demonstrated against a vigil for the people of Palestine which they automatically equated with "supporting Hamas," and a march for female asylum seekers. Then there was their threat to cause disruption across the country on the basis of tabloid myths. If these are people educated against unfair generalisations, we can only wonder what the ignorant bigots are like.

We argue that extremism cannot be fought with extremism – not only is it wrong, but it doesn’t work.

This is too vague a statement to address. The EDL do not define "extremism," and at any rate their attitude appears to be that of the state's - fall in line with a prescribed way of thinking or be declared an enemy.

We speak out against prejudice, and defend the reputation of ordinary Muslims.

We celebrate the efforts made by truly reformist or modernising Muslims.

If somebody has evidence of this, anywhere, please feel free to present it. I have seen none.

We regularly accept opportunities to debate with our critics and
those with whom we disagree: encouraging mutual understanding between
people on different sides of the argument.

Perhaps why, when they invaded News from Nowhere, an admin of the Liverpool EDL page pointed out that some bits of literature "promote communism and are anti-royals" and "A[s] a[n] Englishman I find this unacceptable."

We give a voice to people who have might otherwise believe that no one speaks for them.

This one is true. However, as I've argued before, what this amounts to is leading the working class down a nationalist blind alley. They have demonstrated their support for "the banks, the government, the media,
leading industries, etc," and serve their needs by twisting class resentments and interests to present them as nationalist ones.

We help prevent resentment from growing between communities.

I refer to my point on "peaceful demonstrations" above. The EDL not only causes and exacerbates tensions between ethnic and religious groups, it plays up the myth that such groups can be organised into homogenous "communities," which is the very basis of the divide and resentment.

We refuse to cooperate with known extremists, and have made
ourselves very unpopular with the far right for refusing to endorse
their views.

I've addressed this earlier, looking at why the EDL should be called far-right and fascist.

We celebrate diversity, by establishing ‘specialist divisions’ such as our separate religious divisions, and LGBT division.

Clearly, far from being "one of the best forms of protection that this country has against far right extremism," the EDL are the far-right. They attempt to mask it with sophistry, but their is no escaping their origins as a gathering of fascists and football hooligans. It is the duty of real anti-fascists to oppose them, both by dissecting their dogma and by standing in front of them when they advance upon our communities.